Okay, after getting advice here, I'm the guy who wouldn't go $8500 for a
'68 Newport 30,' and after seeing the Piver and hearing the warnings,
ran, as advised (though the hull looked in good shape from what I could
see, but it needed much work, the masts looked scary for example, and it
wasn't as roomy below as I thought it would be...

My boat-looking last weekend at a Ranger 29' and some Catalina 27's and
smaller, along with some power boats, taught me that for my family I
need at least the size of the Ranger 29,' and hopefully bigger, like a
Catalina 30' would be fabulous, sizewise. My problem is my budget, which
is about $8K for a *working* cruiser/weekender.

So it seems I need some kind of edge, which leads me to consider boat
auctions. Many of these boats are confiscated by the Marina's right? and
are perfectly fine, many of them?

Anyway, there's this guy who is an acquaintance of a friend of mine who
buys boats at auctions, fixes them and sells them; who thinks he can get
this beautiful sloop, bigger and with a much better reputation than the
Catalina 30,' for within my budget. The lowest I can find any similar
boats on the internet is about $18,000!

The guy seems okay, I went and looked at the impounded boat at the
Marina (only from the outside so far since the boat still hasn't been
taken over by the Marina quite yet), and I loved it, from what I could
see. Anyway, this seems to get me everything I want, a boat I can get
back what I put into it (decked out versions on the internet go for
$25K!), it's big enough, a good sailor. What should I watch out for?
Does anyone here no about boat auctions? Is this too good to be true?

Thanks,

Stephen